Evidence Growing the Apple iPad 5 Will Be Noticeably Smaller

The iPad mini has proved to be a huge success for Apple. It’s clear many people want smaller tablets, so the company is apparently going to slim down its 9.7-inch iPad 5 a bit.

No pictures of this upcoming version have leaked out as yet, but a picture that supposedly shows a case for it has come to light. Even better, this compares the size of the device with the current iPad 4 and the iPad mini.

Previous reports have indicated that Apple intends to trim off the left and right bezels on this device to reduce its footprint. There has been no suggestions that the tablet will have a smaller display than its predecessor — the 9.7-inch screen is supposedly going to stay.

Reducing the size of bezels might reduce the battery life of this computer, as the interior voume of the iPad is almost entirely taken up with its battery. However, Apple is rumored to be switching to a new type of screen that will be thinner and use less power.

Other Changes

If the image is legitimate, it also indicates that the iPad will have a squarer shape, so the edges are less sharp.

This will allegedly make room on the bottom edge for a pair of stereo speakers on either side of the Lightning charge/data port. The iPad mini has this same arrangement.

At this point, the Apple iPad 5 is expected to be introduced in the third quarter of this year.